


One Baby Step At a Time

by JenneeGrace



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Babies, F/M, Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-11
Updated: 2013-04-11
Packaged: 2017-12-08 03:57:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/756782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenneeGrace/pseuds/JenneeGrace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for Mad Swan Appreciation Week, Day 3<br/>Prompt : Family</p>
            </blockquote>





	One Baby Step At a Time

An envelope sat neatly in front of the tea pot with just two words on it in Emma’s best handwriting.

**_Open Me_ **

She probably should have known better than to leave it there while she was fixing dinner. Jefferson had offered to pick up something on the way back from the afternoon spent out and about with the kids, but even sandwiches and a salad was easy enough to pull off without burning down the entire kitchen. Really, you end up making the toaster smoke once and no one trusted you again… She had expected it to be left alone until everyone got to the table. She was hopeful and terrified which was doing little for keeping the butterflies from kicking around in her stomach.

 “And what is this?” She didn’t have to ask what it was Jefferson had found and just headed to the dining room. There he was with the envelope. “’Open Me’… Very Wonderlandian. Should I be worried?”

 She went to grab it only for him to pull it back away. “Maybe.” She replied, making another grab for it only for him to hold it up in the air as high as he could manage. Trying to get it then involved being right up in his face and likely exactly what he wanted.

 “Something from your parents?” He smiled at her attempts to pull his arm back down and just kept it up at the very tips of his fingers. “You must be feeling a bit better from this morning.”

 “Not from them, and yes.” She pouted slightly as their eyes met.

 “Do you really want it back?”

 “Yes, please…”

 Jefferson gave an exaggerated sigh and handed it back with a quick kiss to her forehead and wrapped an arm around her. “Kids should be down soon from cleaning up. We’ll have to see if Henry still has the daisy crown on that Grace forced on him.”

 Emma could just picture it with Henry’s hair all messed up from running around all afternoon and likely not arguing much about Grace’s craft project. “I’m sure it went particularly well with his sword.”

 “Prince Henry of the Posy Provinces…” He was clearly half distracted with nuzzling her hair and she was still too worried about the envelope in her hands to stop him.

 “Sounds like you three had a nice day then.”

 “Mmhmm…” He pulled away again at the sounds of footsteps on the staircase. “And then I return to mystery letters with the tea meant to tease my natural curiosity.”

 “Patience, Jefferson… You can certainly wait until everyone is at the table. And you can also come carry the salad bowl and help get everything on the table that much faster.” Emma put the envelope back and pulled him back to the kitchen with her to make sure he didn’t try to sneak a look inside now.

 Food on the table and the two just-barely teenagers at the table (Henry sans flower crown, but at least his hair was therefore combed), Emma was just trying to keep a smile on as Jefferson picked up the envelope. “ _Now_ can I open it? Or are we waiting for anyone else to come to dinner?”

 “You can open it.”

 Emma found herself starting to chew on a thumbnail while he took his time with it now and glancing over for her reactions. Grace was watching curiously, but Henry had decided to go ahead and fill his plate with salad and not worry too much. Jefferson pulled out both sheets of paper with a flourish. The frown she expected at the words “Storybrooke Hospital” printed on the page with the name “Emma Swan” on the page.

 Jefferson kept reading and rereading to make sure he wasn’t just imagining what was written there or reading it wrong, but then why else would she be giving him test results? The second page though was nothing but a black and white picture.

 “Is that what I think?” A nod. “How long have you..?”

 “Today while you guys were gone.”

 He looked back at the picture in his hands. “Eight weeks?”

 “Approximately… I thought it was just overstress and it wouldn’t be the first time…”

 “Emma…” It only took seconds for him to be out of his chair with dinner forgotten momentarily and pulling her to her feet and embraced her. Emma let herself cling onto him and let out a few tears. It was all okay…

 Well with the exception of the kids that were completely lost on what was going on and went grabbing for the papers Jefferson had dropped on the table. Suspicious picture plus his mom crying was not leading to happy thoughts in Henry’s mind. “IS THAT CANCER?! Are you going to die!?”

 “No, Henry.”

 “That’s a baby, you doofus.” Grace rolled her eyes but already grinning from ear to ear. “We’re going to have a brother or sister!”

 “Oh… That’s a lot better.”

 “Yes. No one around here is allowed to die after all,” Jefferson replied, the only traces of real worry on his face were in his eyes as he squeezed Emma for a few extra moments to allow her to collect herself. He kept his voice low so only she could hear and promising they could talk more later. It was the last three words that she needed to hear the most. “You’re not alone.”

 Emma was an expert and keeping her walls up to hide all the nervousness she was still feeling. She wasn’t 17, he _definitely_ wasn’t Neal, and they’d been in a committed relationship for almost two years now. She and Henry had moved in and the four had been living as a family for half of that… The only thing lacking was a band of gold on her left hand along with all the paper signing and words exchanged that went along with that. She just kept on a smile and listened intently as they went on about their day including playing a little with Henry’s Aunt Matilda. The thought of Gold with a toddler was still a little strange, but she was far from being in a position to judge anyone in this town.

 She let herself be ushered off to go take a bath while Jefferson dealt with dishes and cleaning up and let the kids go watch a movie. They never quite got the dishes done as well as he liked and it left him with plenty of room to think without interruptions as well as keeping them busy while their parents were talking. Dishes cleaned, dried, and put away, he picked up a book on his way back and just got comfortable before sitting on the bed with his book and waiting.

 Emma came in after another hour, brushing out her hair and wrapped up in a red bathrobe. He didn’t even need to ask and she got up next to him and rested her still damp head on his shoulder while he wrapped an arm around her. She just read from there and stayed silent until the chapter had finished before taking the book from him and setting it on the table. “How are we going to manage this, Jefferson?”

 “Together… And as a family. Grace seems excited and Henry is pretty happy at least that you’re not dying. We were doing more than enough to prevent this short of permanent solutions. We’ll figure out the plan as we go along… Do your parents know?”

 “Mary Margaret had to come pick me up after the test and made sure I got back here.” She left out everything about her mother questioning if she was worried because she was unsure about things with Jefferson. She had never been more sure of anything in her life. “So I’m sure David knows as well and you can expect the appropriate threats…”

 “So noted… What has you all worried then? I’m not going anywhere and this kid is definitely going to have some of the most protective older siblings as well as grandparents.”

 “What if I completely mess this kid up?” She pulled back and looked up at him. “I mean Henry’s completely great, but that’s ten years without my influence to screw him up at work. I can’t take credit for anything that made him who he is. I don’t know how to take care of a baby and still get all nervous whenever someone hands me one to hold. What if I drop the kid and he or she ends up with permanent brain damage?”

 “Emma Emma Emma…” Jefferson went and brushed the tears off of her cheeks with his thumb and gave her his best reassuring smile. “You won’t. Just breathe and relax and try not to get yourself all worked up.”  He stroked her back while Emma took several deep breaths and tried to let them out slowly. “See, you’ve already got Lamaze down perfectly. One less thing to worry about because we’re going to have plenty of time to worry about all of it. And I won’t let you give Regina all the credit for what a fine kid you’ve had. He gets plenty of his smarts and intelligence from you.”

 “Not that you’d ever give Neal much credit.”

 “Yeah, not really…” Jefferson let it lapse into silence again and interlaced their fingers together. “I have enough faith in you for the both of us. You’re not going to screw it all up and you’ll be thinking back on this later and laughing that you ever doubted yourself.”

 “You want to get married?”

 “Well that’s one way to change the topic.”

 “Sorry… Not sorry, but… That wasn’t an answer.”

 “I didn’t know it was an official proposal, Miss Swan… I think the real question is do you actually want to get married?”

 Did she? Yesterday she probably would have laughed off the idea if anyone other than Jefferson were suggesting it. They were planning on building a family here and this was just one more step toward that. “Yes. Only if it’s you standing on the other end of the aisle though.”

 “Well then would you do me the honor of becoming my wife, Emma Swan? And I will do everything in my power to make you the happiest woman in all the worlds.”

 Emma grinned. Here he was in his pajamas and her in a bathrobe and yet nothing seemed more perfect. “You already do…” She watched him curiously as he reached across her and opened the drawer, tossing a few things aside before coming back with a powder blue box and setting it on her lap.

 “I’ve had that for six months… But every time I get close to giving it to you I just get terrified all over again that you’re going to go running. I’m sure I could survive losing you, but it wouldn’t be easy… And I never want to find out how right or wrong I am.”

 She opened the box to find a relatively simple diamond ring. Emma knew full well with everything Regina had given him under the curse that he could afford something better suited to his personality. It was perfect for her. Beautiful without being overly showy. He took her left hand and slid the ring on. “May I kiss the bride-to-be?”

 “I don’t know…” She moved to straddle his lap and wrapped her arms loosely around his neck where she could still admire the ring for a moment. “My fiancé has a terrible temper when he lets go. I wouldn’t want you to end up getting hurt.”

 “I’ll take my chances.” He tugged gently at the belt, just barely loosing the knots. “Besides… What he doesn’t know, won’t hurt him?” Jefferson had his lips pressed to hers, barely leaving Emma enough concentration to magically lock the door.

 ~*~*~

 They kept the wedding small, helped partly by scheduling it a month later so there wasn’t time for things to get out of hand. Even the wedding party had been kept down to Grace and Henry serving as Maid of Honor and Best Man and Matilda Gold as flower girl. “Just” friends and family it seemed like amounted to half the town being invited though Jefferson noticed the dwarves all keeping an eye out even through the reception. No one needed this to go full-on Fairy Tale wedding complete with dark witch showing up with a curse for the happy couple.

 Jefferson had tried to talk Emma into a short honeymoon any where she could possibly ask, but she wasn’t having any of it from suggestions of Hawaii to Hyrule (though he’d been unable to convince her that it was anything more than a video game). It wasn’t going to be much longer before they were going to have to start admitting that Emma wasn’t just getting addicted to chocolate chip pancakes smeared with peanut butter. And at the end of the day, the Savior of Storybrooke was more than happy to just snuggle against her husband and listen to him trying to teach her lullabies from the Enchanted Forest and everywhere else he had been. She did the same with the ones she could still remember, but they’d gotten into an argument on what sort of strange responsible parenting it was to buy babies mockingbirds and diamond rings.

 Their children had both managed sleepovers with friends to give them full privacy at the house. Emma was too tired from trying to keep up appearances all day. She might have just slept right in her dress if Jefferson hadn’t just carefully gotten it off and hung it up before returning to bed. She barely opened her eyes at the gentle circles over the slight bulge of her stomach and soft words.

 “Let your mama sleep now… She’s had a very long day and more than enough questioning looks of people wondering if you’re there. But we don’t care about any of that. People who have nothing better to talk about must lead terribly dull lives after all.” He just continued with the gentle strokes and hummed quietly.

 Emma closed her eyes again and let herself drift off with happy thoughts for the future.

 ~*~*~

 “You’re completely certain?” Emma was failing at keeping the panic out of her voice even while Jefferson squeezed her hand.

 “You had a very good little hider there, so we just didn’t see it when we were confirming how far along you were the first time. It happens.”

 “Breathe, Emma.”

 She did as she was told, squeezing his hand. “Can we have a moment?” The tech nodded and headed out of the room while Emma looked back at the screen and bit her lower lip. “Twins?”

 Jefferson shrugged slightly. “Well I was suggesting the room slightly further away from Grace and Henry’s rooms for the nursery. It’s larger and we haven’t started on decorating yet…”

 “And at least they’ll have each other with their next oldest siblings being 14 years their senior?” Positives. That’s what she needed to keep focusing on. “Twice the diapers and the feedings… Twice the little outfits.”

 “That adorable double stroller they have at the store that we could get… And apparently no matter if you were hoping more for a girl or another boy, we’re being blessed with both.” He pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. “You know this is going to make for an exciting night at Granny’s with your parents, right?”

 Emma groaned.

 It proved not to be as bad as they thought, though Jefferson was sure he’d never seen Snow White be so bouncy in her life as she was at the idea of being a grandmother again twice over and celebrating with Ruby and they had kidnapped Emma away to a corner to talk. With Grace trying to get in on everything as well it left Jefferson and Henry just sitting in a both with their tea and hot chocolate respectively.

 “You okay?” Jefferson asked gently.

 “Yeah, why wouldn’t I be?”

 “Well you’ve been kind of subdued, but then I could be more used to Grace’s over infectious cheerfulness when she’s happy about something. I just want you to know that you can still pull me away from the girls if you need to talk. Top Secret No-Repeating-To-Emma even… Though I know you have your dad too.”

 “You know Ruby can hear everything going on over here… And that you’re not really fond of Neal.” Henry just looked up at him pointedly. Jefferson just returned the glance before setting down the money for their food and drinks along with his usual generous tip.

 “Henry and I will be back later, girls.” He just looked at Henry and nodded toward the door and smiled as he headed out and just waited for a moment once outside for his step-father.

 Jefferson led the way down the street and around to one of the town parks and just sat down on the swings. It was far enough that anyone looking wouldn’t immediately find them (short of Ruby and her nose) but still close enough to keep the walking time down. “Better?”

 “I guess.”

 “Now I know something is bugging you. Especially from the kid who wasn’t afraid to tell me off on a first meeting… And if it’s the whole thing with Neal that has always been because he knew about the curse and your mom’s involvement. Same as my issues with August before everything happened. August was a kid though in a scary new place with no one he knew, but what he did later on, like getting between your parents in the first place is something I have a harder time with.”

 “You left.”

 Jefferson just swung slightly back and forth. “And regretted it every moment from the second Regina left Wonderland. I’ve never claimed to be perfect as a parent by any means. After all it took an eleven year old to zap enough courage in me to even confront my daughter again. And I’m scared… I don’t let it on in front of your mom because she’s just as worried as I am, but you take things one day at a time and try to prepare.” Henry looked mildly impressed that Jefferson was willing to admit any weakness in front of him, though it was short lived. “I don’t think we came out here to talk about your dad though.”

 “It’s a small part of the problem though.” Henry finally went and took the swing next to Jefferson and pushed himself just enough to drag his feet in the sand. “Grace has kind of got her parents from being under the curse, but it’s not like they’re going to get offended over her calling Emma “Mom”. You’re the one though that’s making sure I’m not up reading too late and has breakfast made before school in the mornings. But when dad’s here to visit, I’m not even sure what to call you. I don’t want to go and offend either of you by suddenly calling you Jefferson or him hearing me calling you “Dad”. It’s the same thing with “Mom” all over again except after everything she’s done over time I don’t feel so guilty about it around Mom Regina.”

 Jefferson just smiled. “I really don’t mind… I’m more honored that you’d consider me to be any sort of father to you. Even if it is just when he’s not here or you’re not in New York visiting. He’s done right by you, Henry I’ll give him that. But that’s not all of it.”

 Henry shook his head and focused more at his feet. “You’re going to think it’s stupid.”

 “Hardly. If it concerns you, then I want to do something to make you feel better.”

 “No, because it is stupid and not really something that can just be fixed… I’m just kind of jealous.” He paused, seeming to wait for Jefferson to reply, but he was just sitting there with his swing still and watching Henry. “I know she wanted me to have my best shot and I did have a pretty good life here until I started questioning why things were the way they were and Grandma giving me the storybook… But these kids are going to have her there for all the first days of school and the school plays and not have any of the issues I’ve had... I told you it was stupid.”

 Jefferson frowned slightly but didn’t turn away. “Not stupid, Henry. Normal. And at least better than being all sure that the babies are going to take all our time away and you two are going to be completely forgotten.”

 Henry actually smiled again. “Mom already had that talk. Because she was scared that _would_ be what we were thinking. Nah. We’ve kind of both outgrown that need to be all “look at me right now or I’ll know you don’t really love me” sort of actions. Plus I think Grace is all kind of excited about getting to baby-sit but being able to pass them off the moment there’s a dirty diaper. Big changes to try and take in this year with the babies and the wedding and high school now. I’ll be okay.”

 “Well if not me or your mom, there’s always Archie for “responsible adults who care about you”, and at least you know he’s not going to come jumping over to the house to tell us anything.”

 Henry nodded a little, swinging with a little more enthusiasm. “So why all the way out here to the park?”

 “Good view of the stars.” Jefferson looked up at the autumn sky with only a few clouds obscuring the view. “They’re also very good listeners if you just need to get it out.”

 “The stars?”

 “Yeah. Plus it’s just relaxing to lay out and watch them.”

 Henry nodded slightly, looking up at the sky. He moved after a while to a grassier area to just lay down without Jefferson interrupting other than the slight creaking sound of the swing moving again. Eventually Grace texted to find out where they were which led to the walk back to the diner before the search party got sent out.

 Both were feeling better.

 ~*~*~

 Emma’s eyes kept threatening to fall if not for the tight grip her daughter had on her finger. The newborn had developed her parents lack of caring about what anyone else thought and had gone to sleep as soon as they were done poking her and had her wrapped up in a blanket. She smiled at Jefferson who was just about as tired but running on coffee that had been doped up with so much milk and sugar that it barely resembled coffee by the time he was done with it. “You okay over there, or do I need to take Andrew off your hands there?”

 “We’re perfectly fine, aren’t we Andy?” The little boy just yawned in response, slowly blinking his eyes. “He’s got your hair. There’s not much, but fine as any spun gold.”

 “They’ve both got your eyes. And he’s already getting down your pout just right.”

 “I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about…”

 “Right… I’m going to end up being the one they hate because it’ll be just one look up with those long lashes and “ _but Papa, pleeeeease”_ and you’re going to be melted faster than ice cream in July.” Jefferson rolled his eyes with a smile and went to sit on the edge of her bed. “And eventually we’re going to have to let everyone else in to come and see these two even if they sleep through all of it.”

 “Few more minutes, Song-bird… Just you, me, Alice, and Andrew. Though I offered to have your mother get the kids from school since they were already started for the day, but they both refused and said they’d be over right after.”

 “Plenty of time for most of the parade to clear out then and maybe get a nap so they don’t see me like this.”

 “You look beautiful. As always.”

 “Hey, everything in that area is officially Wonderland until further notice, buddy… Including just wondering about down there though even THINKING about it is probably going to get you into trouble, and I am not trying to be funny here.” She was grinning however.

 Jefferson just started laughing somewhere in the middle. “Mama’s gone maaaaad. Clearly too much of papa already rubbed off on her.” He shook his head with mock sadness and took Andy over to the hospital basinet before also retrieving his sister to join him. “Rest your eyes for a few minutes and I’ll go see how many visitors we’ve got waiting out there?”

 “Already planning on it whenever possible… And Jefferson?”

 He paused in the doorway. “Yes, Emma?”

 “Despite all of the incredibly terrible things I said a few times over the night, I love you.”

 He smiled, just taking in the scene for a moment of her there with their two perfectly healthy children and two more that were turning into responsible young adults on them. His family… “I love you too. Until the end of time and back again.”


End file.
